1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for detecting flooding in buildings, such as homes, apartments, condominiums and offices, and, in particular, concerns a system which monitors water flow and provides a signal to a centralized alarm system such that the centralized alarm system can take corrective action without necessarily disabling the water supply.
2. Description of the Related Art
Water intrusion problems can pose very significant problems for owners of buildings. Water damage can occur in a variety of different circumstances including burst pipes, overflowing toilets and overflowing sinks. If the occupant of the building is not present when the leak occurs, a very substantial amount of water can leak into the building causing substantial damage to both the contents of the building as well as the structural components of the building.
For example, an unattended water leak that persists for several hours can result in thousands of gallons of water being deposited onto the floor, thereby ruining rugs, furniture and other contents. Moreover, the water will ultimately seep into subfloor areas and into wall spaces thereby damaging the structural components of these spaces. A further, very substantial difficulty of water leaks is that mold is a natural result of excess water in a building. Mold in houses, condominiums, offices and apartments can cause health concerns and currently many insurance companies are no longer insuring buildings that have mold problems.
The problems associated with excess water leakage is particularly exacerbated in buildings that are not continuously occupied. For example, vacation-type condominiums or townhouses are often unoccupied for days or months at a time. Hence, if water begins to leak in one of these units, the water leak may not be detected until the water has seeped into adjacent occupied units. Hence, the damage may not be localized to a single location but may actually spread to multiple units causing a substantial difficulty for the homeowner's association of the condominium. The issues associated with water damage and mold in condominiums has resulted in many insurance companies no longer writing policies for condominiums in large portions of the country.
To address these particular problems, a variety of leak detection systems have been disclosed in the past. For example, one common type of leak detector comprises an electrical circuit that is located adjacent a potential source of a water leak. The electrical circuit is completed by the presence of water, thereby resulting in a signal being sent to actuate some type of local alarm. One difficulty of this type of system is that the electrical circuit is only capable of detecting a leak in one particular location. If the leak occurs at another location, a substantial amount of water would have to flow before the sensor detects the presence of water. Alternatively, multiple sensors would have to be located throughout a building to ensure that all of the likely sources of leaks would be detected. A further difficulty of these types of localized systems is that if no one is in the building when a localized alarm is initiated, then the water may continue to flow resulting in substantial damage.
There have also been systems developed that are more centralized in their ability to detect leaks within a building. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,317,051 to Cohen, discloses a system which detects the presence of water flowing in a pipe and either measures the accumulated volume of water flowing or measures the time duration of the water flow. The system then determines the existence of a leak if the water volume or time duration exceeds a preselected threshold. Moreover, there are also systems, such as the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,323,774, and 6,237,618, to Mitchell and Kushner, respectively, that disclose the concept of a signal being sent to a centralized monitored alarm system. However, one difficulty of these types of systems is that once a leak is determined to have been detected, generally a valve is then employed to shut off all water flow to the house. If it turns out that the leak is being detected as a result of water flow exceeding a duration or volume threshold, a false detection of a leak will result in water to the dwelling being shut off which can result in an inconvenience to the occupant of the dwelling. For example, if multiple people in the building are taking showers back-to-back, the water flow volume or duration may exceed the threshold resulting in the water to the house being shut off while someone is in the middle of a shower.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that there is a continuing need for an improved centralized monitoring system capable of detecting leaks and allowing for a flexible response to the detection of a leak. To this end, there is a need for a reliable system that can provide an indication of a leak and, further, that the system be able to implement one of a plurality of corrective actions in order to address the leak.